SEA OTTER CLASSIC 2010 – Marzocchi unveiled a prototype carbon fiber version of their Micro Ti 44 suspension fork aimed at the All-Mountain crowd.
The fork will use the same internals as their 44 Micro Ti and come set at 150mm of travel, which can be reduced to 130mm via internal spacers. With a target weight of 1600g (about 3.5lbs) and the inherent stiffness that can be built into carbon fiber, this fork should have a lot of big hit riders drooling come early 2011.
Full specs and lots of photos after the break…
The 44 Micro Ti Carbon model will have lowers made of a magnesium shell wrapped with carbon fiber, and the new design is claimed to shave about 274g (0.6lbs!) off the current QR15 magnesium-lower model’s weight…and it does that while increasing the travel by 10mm (and it’s 145g lighter than the current 9mm QR model).
The 32mm uppers are nickel-plated tapered alloy stanchions with forged alloy crown.
Internally, the fork is an open bath, air sprung suspender. It uses Marzocchi’s TST Micro cartridge damper, and from the looks of this model will get the remote “Micro” platform/lock-out control. The gold knob sets the compression, and the lock-out lever will adjust the level of operating threshold (aka: platform) from fully active to fully locked (on Marzocchi’s forks without the remote lever, the compression and threshold are controlled via a dual knob-within-a-knob).
The air cartridge is located in the left leg, and the Carbon model will get Marzocchi’s Volume Adjust. VA lets you change the volume of the air chamber to adjust for varying rider weights and conditions. A smaller chamber will provide a firmer ride with more progressive ramp at the end, while a larger volume will create a flatter spring curve. Marzocchi says it’s the equivalent of changing the oil volume, except it’s all done without the added weight of oil, and all you have to do is turn the outer bezel on top of the leg. Besides changing the effective spring rate, it allows the fork to be tuned to better match varying rider weights.
Rebound damping controls are on the lower left leg.
The 44 Micro Ti Carbon will be offered only for 15mm thru-axles.
It’ll have straight 1-1/8″ and tapered 1-1/8″ to 1.5″ steerer tube options.
The “Ti” in the model name refers to the titanium negative spring.
MSRP should be about $1,000 USD when it hits early next year.
